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| Figure 1: Darkroom Proof Print |
Reprinted from Photo Techiques Magazine (Nov/Dec 1999)
Anasazi Indian Ruin, 1993
DIGITAL MASTER PRINTING CLASS
By Ron Harris
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The Four Corners area of the Southwest is riddled with Anasazi Indian ruins. I’ve hiked into many canyons searching for and photographing these ruins. Sometimes I’ve discovered them in what I call a “power place,” distinguished by black fingers of desert varnish draping down the overhang of a cliff dwelling. Such was the case with this ruin. I spent a whole afternoon photographing it, waiting for the light to penetrate under the overhang.
I made this image in 1993 using Kodak Tech Pan film in a Hasselblad camera with a 100mm lens. I processed it to increase contrast (N+1) to make the black fingers stand out, and add luminosity to the ruin and surrounding foliage.
Figure 1 shows a darkroom proof print I made on Oriental Seagull Grade 3 paper not long after the picture was taken, with some dodging and burning to try to enhance the image. Realizing that I was going to have difficulty achieving a print to match my vision, I put it aside.
Returning to the task not long ago, I scanned the image into Adobe Photoshop 5.02. Several hours later I made the print shown in Figure 3. This print was made using Epson Photo Quality Glossy Paper in an Epson Stylus Photo 1200 printer. It conveys the spirit and excitement I felt as I looked at the ruin in the changing afternoon light.
The raw scan from which this print is made is shown in Figure 2. It looks flat and uninteresting. However, it contains a great deal of information in all regions…it’s just a matter of bringing it out using Photoshop’s tools. In my experience making a dynamically pleasing scan frequently loses shadow and highlight information that can’t be recovered.
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Calibration of monitor and printer
First, ensure that the monitor can display a full grayscale and the printer
can print it.
Calibrate the monitor using Adobe Gamma. The section where contrast and brightness are adjusted using nested squares is very important.
Make a new 1-inch high by 7-inch wide 300 pixel-per-inch gray-scale file. A black-to-white gradient is made from left-to-right, while holding down the shift key to keep it horizontal. This image is posterized with 32 steps, producing a 32-step grayscale, with black on the left and white on the right. Using the eyedropper tool and the Info Palette, the steps have values 0, 8, 16 … 247, 255.
The Photoshop Color Settings, RGB Setup, should be set to either Monitor RGB or Adobe RGB, with a gamma of 1.8. After doing this, you should be able to differentiate all steps in the grayscale except for the first two, 0 and 8. Step 16 should be just after black, and the second-to-last step should appear just before pure white, having some tone. Once this is done, a full tonal range can be displayed on the monitor.
Print the image and compare it to the image on the screen. They should match very closely. The light source used to view all Epson prints is important. I prefer incandescent light, which gives a very slight magenta cast to the prints. Window light tends toward a very faint green.
Recommended Epson Printer Settings
(using Epson Photo Quality Glossy Paper)
Epson
Photo 1200
Printer Control Management OFF; Space: Grayscale; Color Ink; Epson Color
Adjustment Mode: Automatic; Epson Contrast Slider: approximately minus 5;
Paper Choice: Epson Photo Quality Inkjet Paper. (There is no Glossy Paper
choice.)
Epson
Photo EX
Same as Epson 1200, except the Epson sliders set to (approximately):
Brightness minus 6; Magenta minus 5; and Contrast plus 3. Paper choice: Epson
Photo Paper.
Epson
Photo (original model)
Same as Epson 1200, except no Epson slider adjustments and Paper Choice:
Epson Photo Quality Glossy Inkjet Paper.
Use Error Diffusion Dithering and Super Microweave for all three printers. Finest Detail is OFF. Using these settings, I’ve made prints that are essentially neutral in color—and compare favorably to darkroom prints—on all three printers.
At this point, a full-range grayscale image is displayed on the computer monitor. It can be printed to match the screen image. Use the eyedropper tool to measure the values of the different shades of gray. Think of this as the Zone System applied to digital printing.
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Getting a Good Scan
My scanner is a 1,000 ppi Lino Saphir Ultra flatbed, and I scan my
black-and-white film in grayscale mode. The dynamic range of black-and-white
film is low, well within the range of most scanners. However, this small
range presents difficulties with some scanners: scans have poor highlight
and/or shadow detail. It’s best to bring in a flat scan, sometimes with
a little “S” curve applied with the scanning software, which increases
the contrast in the midtone area. It is important to include all of the
negative’s tonal information in the scan.
To test the capability of the scanner and its software, scan a grayscale step negative, such as Kodak’s Photographic Step Tablet #3, which has 21 steps and a density range from approximately 0.05 to 3.05. My scanner clearly differentiates the steps ranging from 0.05 to 2.29, which is more than adequate. Most black-and-white film has a range from about 0.2 to 1.8, covering Zones I through VIII and beyond. (My Zone I density is usually about 0.20; my Zone VIII about 1.30.) After scanning the negative test target, invert it to a positive, and make a print. The print should match the screen image. Doing this allows certain negative densities and corresponding screen pixel values to be correlated with the print tones, completing a digital zone system. (You can even match your spot meter readings to print tones!)
Optimizing the Image In Photoshop
Once the image is scanned into Photoshop, you’ve got the
“score,” as Ansel Adams would say. The “performance”
is the way you use Photoshop tools to paint the scene with light. In the
darkroom you dodge and burn, perhaps use variable contrast settings, or maybe
bleach. With a computer, the tools are different. Usually I use Levels and
Curves Adjustment Layers to enhance different parts of the image. I rarely
use Brightness/Contrast Adjustment Layers.
It is very helpful to use Adjustment Layers for three reasons. The first is speed. Only the screen image is ad-justed, so the process is fast. Secondly, you can return to an adjustment layer at any time and readjust without degrading the image. Third, you can turn these adjustments on and off easily. If you make adjustments without using Layers, they are permanent and subsequent adjustments degrade the image. The goal is getting to the final image with as few adjustments as possible.
Initially, I explore the image using Levels and Curves to see what detail is available. I decide what each section should look like, then try to achieve that goal. Then I return to the original image, selecting the deep shadow areas using the magic wand tool, the selection tool, the pen tool, or with Color Range. You might need to refine the selection region. Once selected, make two Ad-justment Layers—one for Levels and one for Curves—and make adjustments until the deep shadow areas look right. Use the eyedropper and Info palette to monitor tones, keeping in mind that any area darker than 16 will print as pure black.
If there is sky in the image, select it and use Levels and Curves Adjustment Layers to enhance it separately. Next, select everything except the sky and the shadows and enhance this region. Any problem areas can be excluded and worked on separately.
Then, select individual areas to work on. In the final image of the ruin, I used 27 separate Adjustment Layers. This is where artistry and vision are developed…painting with light and bringing out detail.
Using other scans or image versions
Sometimes, the enhancement process leaves little detail in some shadow
or highlight areas. I save various versions of the image as the work progresses,
and may like the way a certain portion of the image looks in one version
than another. In Photoshop it is possible to select a portion from one version,
and paste it into the working image. Also, you can use the clone tool to
paint in shadow or highlight detail from another image. It may be necessary
to have two different scans of the same film frame and use parts of both.
When I expose film, I usually make multiple exposures, making sure all highlight
and shadow detail is captured. Use these different frames to make a composite
image.
Retouching and sharpening
Frequently, artifacts are produced at the edges of layer boundaries;
these have to be retouched using the clone tool or the blur tool. For the
best results, you may have to create a merge layer on top of the adjustment
layers. Do this while holding down the Alt key on your PC, so that all Adjustment
Layers are preserved during the merge.
When the image is nearly finished, apply Unsharp Masking with approximately: Amount: 100%, Radius: 1, and Threshold: 0. This livens the image up, but may require a small bit of retouching.
Finishing up
Make proof prints during the entire process since subtle changes
may be necessary to get an area to print as desired. When the image appears
to be finished, you may need to touch up the overall image with Levels and
Curves Adjustment Layers that cover the entire image. Occasionally, small
tweaks to certain selections and a final bit of retouching are
required.
The final print for this image is leaps and bounds beyond the initial darkroom proof print—and both took about the same amount of time. More importantly, the final print fulfills the vision I had initially. Should I want to make adjustments to this image in the future, it is a simple matter of re-opening the file and continuing the process.
| Ron Harris is a Louisiana-based photographer. |
Return to HarrisImages Main Page
e-mail Ron: harris@sprynet.com
